Get That Dreaded Clothing Stain out in Four Easy Steps (2024)

Blood stains are notoriously stubborn and difficult to remove from fabrics. Our extensive testing of stain removers and laundry detergents has shown that many products fail to remove blood stains completely. Luckily, executive director of the Good Housekeeping Institute Cleaning Lab, Carolyn Forté shares her best advice for how to get blood out of clothes — whether you're dealing with cotton, polyester, linen or another fabric.

With blood stains, it pays to act fast and use the right products to return clothes to their original appearance. Always check the care labels on pieces to ensure that heavy-duty stain removers or bleach (the MVP of stain-busting) won't damage the fabric. The care instructions should serve as your guide, but bleaching fabrics like wool, silk, mohair, leather, spandex and non-colorfast garments is never a good idea.

And if you're curious about home remedies, like hydrogen peroxide, vinegar or toothpaste to banish ugly stains, keep scrolling to hear what Forté has to say about these hacks.

How to get fresh blood out of clothes

Like most other stains, blood is easiest to remove when it's fresh. The steps below are the same for most types of colorfast fabrics, including jeans and white cotton tees, and will even work well for removing blood stains from sheets. As soon as you notice blood on your clothes, head to your medicine cabinet and laundry room to gather supplies, and then get to work by following these steps:

What you'll need:

• Bar soap
• Hydrogen peroxide
• Fabric-safe bleach
• Laundry pre-treater
• Enzyme-containing liquid laundry detergent

Instructions

1. Soak the stain in cold water as soon as possible. If the stain is super fresh, place it under cold running water and try to flush out as much of the fresh blood as you can.
2. Treat the stain with hydrogen peroxide, or rub bar soap into the stain. Apply the hydrogen peroxide to a cloth and then use the cloth to blot the stain. For very heavy stains and only if the fabric is colorfast, carefully apply the hydrogen peroxide directly to the stain or soak the stain in a small bowl of hydrogen peroxide. Scrub the stained garment by hand with bar soap in cold water.
3. Apply a laundry pre-treater, or rub in an enzyme-containing liquid laundry detergent. Machine wash the garment in warm water with a fabric-safe bleach. If your garment can't tolerate chlorine or non-chlorine bleach, try a stain treater like Carbona Stain Devils #4. Always spot test new products first by applying a small amount to an inside seam or hem of your garment.
4. If the stain remains, repeat the steps above. Refrain from putting the garment in the dryer until the stain is completely gone.

How to get dried blood out of clothes

Just because you waited to remove a blood stain doesn't necessarily mean it's permanent. Instead, all you need is a little patience and a heavy-duty stain remover. Follow these steps:

What you'll need:

• Stain-removing laundry soaker
• Bar soap
• Fabric-safe bleach
• Enzyme-containing liquid laundry detergent
• Ammonia
• Laundry pre-treater

Instructions

1. Presoak the garment. Prepare a mixture of cold water and one to two teaspoons of liquid laundry detergent or a stain-removing product like Carbona Oxy Powered Laundry Soaker. Allow the garment to soak in the mixture for several hours or overnight.
2. Pretreat with a laundry pre-treater, or rub the stain with bar soap. Then, launder in warm water with fabric-safe bleach.
3. If that doesn't work, repeat the presoaking step. Presoak for a longer period of time, or mix one quart water with one teaspoon laundry detergent and one tablespoon ammonia and let the garment soak in the solution. (This may take several hours, depending on the severity of the stain.)
4. Pretreat the stain and launder the garment.

Will vinegar get blood stains out of clothes?

Some find that distilled white vinegar can be an effective at-home hack for removing blood stains from fabric, particularly when the stain is fresh. But Forté says, "I’ve never found white vinegar particularly effective on blood stains." Not to mention, undiluted vinegar might break down the fabric's fibers over time.

Is toothpaste useful in removing blood stains?

While toothpaste can treat blood stains, it's not the recommended method since it can't be used on unwashable fabric. It can further stain the garment and leave it with an unpleasant smell, so it's best to stick with tried-and-true methods.

Expert tips to keep in mind

• Though it's easy to assume differently, period blood can be removed from clothing using the same steps and products as blood stains from a scraped knee, nicked finger or cut on your ankle.
• When removing blood stains from jeans, turn the jeans inside out to apply stain remover directly to the spot that is stained.
• Never use hot water on blood stains to avoid setting the stain into the fabric. If you've forgotten and already washed a blood stain in hot water, you can try the steps above, but you may not be able to completely remove the stain from the fabric.